Almost

"Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future." - John F. Kennedy

....................................................

Meanwhile back at the ranch...

Just as Brian was reaching to check if the door was locked... there was a knock.

Damn it to hell! Who could it be now?

Brian was still packing a huge boner in his shorts ready and waiting to slip it into Cheryl. Anyway...Somehow, despite his personal desire to snap the neck of the person behind the door who was knocking, he controlled himself. But it wasn't easy. Oh, hell no.

It was Saturday afternoon and Cheryl had Brian so boned up, he could have ripped apart a den of werewolf's during a full moon on a leap year. This incredible gift of strength, vitality, and masculinity is a tremendous gift given to all men in their 20's. And as all 20-year-old women are quite fuckable for any heterosexual men, all men for a short period in their lifetime, have some degree of masculinity that will attract "some" heterosexual woman.

Go figure.

And Brian? Brian stood with both feet firmly on the ground with the conviction Cheryl was going to be his wife and God have mercy on the poor soul who saw things differently. Brian had found his life partner and he would never let her go. He understood those years known as the "beauty of youth", didn't last forever and good sex was part of the mating game. Good sex was the grease for the gears that turn the wheels of the train to move it down the track smoothly. Any sex is good. But sex with someone you love? Priceless. And that is what he would be doing if he answered the door. Losing a fun filled beautiful Saturday afternoon of youthful sex with the love of his life. But, Brian reluctantly opened the door.

In the light of the hallway stood a conservative, well-dressed, slightly overweight, jolly sort of man with a short gray beard and next to him, a fashionably, smart dressed, attractively refined, professional looking woman. Quite an odd-looking mismatched couple. Both carried with them a large oversize attorney bags and wore pleasant wholesome smiles. The older man pleasantly looked up directly into Brian's eyes and extended his hand to shake, "Good morning sir. Brian Palmer, I presume?"

Oh hell, Brian thought. This is the last thing he wanted to see now. Somebody please kill me and get it over with. Brian suddenly changed his face to include a great big smile and gave them the politest ..., "Whatever you're selling, I'm not buying." ...look he could. He sure as hell was not in the mood to hear the phrase, "Have you heard... the word... of the Lord today?"

Brian didn't have anything against religious people, religion just wasn't his thing. In the past, he had even invited a few in just for the experience. Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, whatever, gave them a glass of water, listen to their story and sent them on the way. The end. But now? No time for any one's else's religion. Cheryl was laying on his bed without any clothes and he had his own divine service to attend.

Being as cheerful as he could, Brian poured on the charm, "Sorry my friends, Presently I'm in the middle of something very important and don't have time today, but many thanks for stopping by."

With that, Brian began closing the door in earnest, but the older man with fatherly concern on his face simply said in a soft voice, "Brian, this is regarding Dan Hamilton and it's pretty important to his well-being. Could we just speak with you a moment? Please."

The genuine concern on the old man's face made Brian pause.

Why me G-d? What have I done to piss you off now?

Brian closed his eyes, dropped his head, shook it slightly, opened his eyes, stared at the floor, snorted, paused a second, and he made his decision.

Fuck.

Then just as fast Brian picked his head up, smiled down at the old man, then turned his attention to the attractive younger woman, and then back to the old man, made the call, and surrendered, "Ok, sure. Why not..."

Opening the living room door, Brian waved them in. "You can wait here in the living room. Put your bags anywhere on the floor. Make yourself comfortable. In the fridge, there is some juice and bottled water. Some beer too, if you want. Glasses are in the cabinet above the toaster."

Returning to look at both his guest directly in their faces, " Seriously, if either you want something to eat or drink, feel free to look around. Take anything you feel like. I'm not going to serve you. The remote is over on that small table directly underneath that lamp by its base. Ok?"

The older man looked up to Brian and spoke first, "I wouldn't mind having a beer?"

Brian shrugged his shoulders and pointed his finger, "The fridge is that way, help yourself. Bottle opener, in the far-left top drawer."

The younger woman found her voice, " I would like a beer too if it's no bother?"

Brian looked down at the attractive professional young woman before him. Very nice indeed. A natural beauty. But not a very smart one. He told her and her buddy more than once they were welcome to take what they wanted. And she's asking again? Of course, the polite thing to do would be to keep telling her until she got it. Or, he could look down very seriously at her and say, "The most difficult step to the refrigerator is the first one.", then point at the Bruce Lee poster on the wall and say, "See that face. That face says it all." and then walk away.

He wouldn't do that for 2 reasons. (1) She might not get his sense of humor. (2) He didn't have a Bruce Lee poster on his wall.

Man, this was turning into a strange afternoon. 10 minutes ago, Brian was quite sure Cheryl and he, were going to spend Saturday afternoon in erotic bliss. Now here he was standing barefoot in his boxing briefs in the living room with some old guy he just invited in was pouring himself one of Brian's beers in the kitchen and sitting on the couch before him, a very attractive, stylishly dressed in well-fashioned business attire professional woman. Pretty hot too. Brian saw her as She examined his body with her eyes. Brian didn't mind. Brian was a "professional martial artist" who was a master of Wing Tsun and he had the body that reflected that title. Brian looked awesome to any heterosexual women. If his new house-guest was going to examine his body so closely, he had no problem showing it off. And though he no longer was sporting a full hard on, he had a "very full" feeling in his briefs. In all honesty, Brian was a babe magnet. He knew it, but he didn't use it. Like his martial arts. He knew what he could do with it, but he didn't.

It was a discipline he imposed on his-self. A deadly one he taught and trained his body to accept. He trained his thoughts to become one with his body. Brian was always in training. Everyday. He trained his hands and feet to inflict the maximum amount of hurt against any attacker. Brian was world class professional fighter. As a sport, few were better, but his martial arts were more than a sport. It was a sport that perfected his body. And that body was being checked out by the lady on the couch.

She looked up at him and in clear crisp voice with an attitude of a professional, " Well, ...may I also have a beer?"

Brian looked at her questionably, was she jerking his chain? He smiled his charming best showing his pearly whites as he closely examined her face.

This was a clever woman.

Maybe a very clever woman.

Was this some fucking test? One thing about Dan, all the people he worked with, or studied with, or hung around with, they all had one thing in common.

They were a mixed bag of nuts.

A 'very' intelligent mixed bag of nuts, but still.... a mixed bag of nuts.

Looking down at the attractive young woman, Brian made the call. If he were single he might have played it differently.

Pointing at the fridge, Brian yawned, excused himself, continued pointing while flexing his muscles in a nonchalant way meant to impress, then smiled his charming best, "Again for the 3rd or 4th time, you welcome to help yourself. "

Pausing to see if she understood and with no further request, Brian clapped both hands together, "OK, it looks like you guys are all set. Give me 15 minutes to clean up and dressed." With that, Brian entered the doorway that led to the hallway and closed the door behind him. Brian called out to Cheryl as he walked to his bedroom, "Cheryl! Get dressed! We have company!" By the time he reached the bedroom he surrendered to the notion he wasn't going to win the lottery today.

Walking in he saw Cheryl was completely nude and had already handcuffed her hands to head of the bed. What a sight to behold. Fuck, she was beautiful. Brian smiled at her as he picked up the key on the nightstand, bent over, looked into her eyes, gently moved some misplace hair behind her ear, paused to kiss her tenderly, and then un-cuffed her hands.

"Cheryl, sweetheart.... get some of your clothes out of the closet and get dressed. We have company."

Cheryl scooted herself across the bed until her feet touched down. As she walked towards the closet to pick out some clothes, with some concern in her voice she asked, "Who is it, Brian? What do they want?"

Brian was looking at her behind. And what a fine behind it was. So beautiful a behind Brian wanted to kiss it, "There's some old guy and a woman here who want to talk about Dan."

Cheryl turned, "They want to talk about Dan? Do you want me to stay here while you talk with them?"

"Nope. I don't feel like repeating the story to you, and I know you'll want me to.... besides, you know Dan as well as I do."

15 minutes later both Brian and Cheryl sat down on the couch in the Living-room. Brian spoke first, "It's your show. My fiancee knows Dan as well as I do. She may be able to answer some your questions I don't have the answers to. "

The man and woman looked down at them both with warm appreciative faces. Both acknowledged Cheryl before the older man began speaking.

"Hello, my name is Dr. Harold Rose," then nodding in the direction of the young woman, "and this is Dr. Jennifer Strong. First, I want to thank you both for allowing us to speak with you this afternoon. We were originally planning to do this at a much later date. But life has a way of changing the best plans of mice and men, as they say." Then nodding to Cheryl, Dr. Rose continued, "You included Cheryl...... the both of you."

Noticing the concern on her face, the old man continued to smile at Cheryl, "We know about you through your acquaintance with Dan if you're wondering how I knew you name Cheryl. We know a lot about you both because of your friendship with Dan."

Both Brian and Cheryl looked at each other a moment. There facial expressions said it all. Brian spoke for the both, "I'm not sure we can be of much assistance to you. Dan's kind of a private person," then looking at Cheryl for some kind of approval, "... but ask away. Is everything ok with Dan?"

At that moment, Dr. Jennifer Strong lightly touched Dr. Rose's shoulder with her hand and began to speak. "Please, both you call me Jennifer, ok? I think you may have misunderstood us. Our purpose here is to give, 'YOU' information about Dan. The both of you. Together. Because you are Dan's only real friends in the area, we want to give you both some background information on Dan, his life, and his work. "

Brian thought he knew where this was going, "Is this a special request for money or something for Dan's studies? Cause straight up, I'm in debt up the ying-yang with school cost and all. Seriously, these pockets are empty."

Cheryl in an attempt to support Brian's story and screw with his head at the same time, "It's all true. He's never been good with money. I don't know why I even consider him as suitable marriage material."

Brian looked at Cheryl. Cheryl was looking back straight faced but her eyes said it all. She was laughing her ass off at him. He knew her game. He enjoyed her humor. That last bit was funny. He wanted to laugh, but he held his lips firmly together and then looked up sincerely at the 2 Doctors. Silently he was nodding his head in remorseful agreement to the sin of not being good with money and most likely not suitable marriage material for any woman.

Both Doctors paused to look at each other then return with gentle smiles, "No, we are not asking for money. We're here to better acquaint you with some background information on your friend Dan you may unaware of. The kind of things that will help explain all those unusual work hours he keeps and when he's absent for weeks at a time." Jennifer smiled and waited patiently to see if they had any questions and when none came continued.

Pointing Dr. Rose and then to herself, "We both work with Dan now and then. Now we find ourselves in a position where it has been deemed imperative to bring you both up to speed as they say. We would like to give you both a little presentation that shouldn't be more than 2 hours and if you have any questions we will stay to answer them the best we can. Would that be ok?"

Again, Brian and Cheryl looked at each other amused, then Brian turned back with a great big laughing smile said, "Well, bring out the popcorn and start the movie."

By the time the presentation finished, neither were laughing. Brian and Cheryl looked like they had fallen into a catatonic state. When asked if they had any questions, they simply continued to stare at the large blank screen of the television.

Brian and Cheryl knew Dan. That was a fact. They did not know this person these government people had presented as "Dan" in their multimedia presentation. That was not Dan. That was somebody that looked and had the same sounding voice as their Dan, but that guy in the presentation, that was somebody else. It felt as though they were waking up from a dream when it finished.

Silence was the unspoken language between the two as they both continued staring at the blank screen. Finally, Brian turned briefly to face Cheryl, "So, you OK?"

Without missing a beat and in a melancholy like tone Cheryl replied, "He doesn't come off that smart when you meet him in person."

While the doctors packed everything away, they once again thanked the young couple and gave them their cards with contact information in case they had any questions later. Brian and Cheryl walked with them to the elevator and waited until the doors closed before speaking.

Cheryl found her voice first, "I don't know what to believe anymore. Jesus Christ Brian, how could we all be so close and not know who the real Dan is?"

Brian looked down at Cheryl and broke into a smile, "Yeah, I suppose it could worst. We really are lucky though."

"How so?"

" Thank God, Dan isn't a serial killer."

----------

While over at Sabastian's....

Samantha's head was spinning. What was going on? Ronnie's lawyer friend Jason was supposed to help her and now he was screaming at her to go away. Noticing everyone staring at her, Samantha still shell shocked from the outburst coming from her brother's friend, slowly stood and walked towards the exit.

Sebastian, the owner of the restaurant met her in the lobby by the exit door. "Please Ms. Harrison, I know your father and mother are very nice people and it has always been my pleasure to serve them, but please, would you do me a great favor?"

Samantha started to speak, "Oh Sebastian, I am so sorry...."

Sebastian painfully smiled and held up his hands, "Please Ms. Harrison, I am requesting that you perhaps not visit us here for some time. Not that you are not welcome, but perhaps 2 weeks. I am asking you as a personal favor not to come by for a few weeks. You will feel better too. Your father and mother are always welcomed as the rest of your family, but please Ms. Hamilton, come back after 3 or 4 weeks. Ok?"

Samantha could see it was paining the owner to request her absence. She let out a deep sigh, "Sure Sebastian, I'm terribly sorry for the scene my guest made. I promise you I will ensure they never visit again. I've always enjoyed the food and service here and I feel just terrible about this whole incident."

Sebastian smiled, slightly bowed, and then replied, "It's no problem, Ms. Harrison. And again, thank you for your cooperation. Best wishes and see you in 4 weeks. Longer, if you feel you need more time." With that, Sebastian held the entrance door open himself for Samantha to exit out to see the valet and pick up her car.

Though not seen, Samantha heard the sound of a helicopter that was circling the area above the surrounding buildings. The first thing Samantha saw in front of her were her two familiar body guards on contract by her father. Both on the ground face down with their hands cuffed behind their backs. Both had the boot of a one security agent on his neck with another security agent's knee on their back. As Samantha walk up she heard her contracted security team being read their rights. Samantha was in full panic mode now, "Officers! Officers! These men are my personal body guards. What's going on? "

One agent standing nearby commanded, "Stop where you are now! Do not move forward! These men are being held on the suspension of terrorist related charges against the Government of the United States! If you do not stop, you will be shot! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"

The agent's that had commanded her to stop never took his eyes from hers. He was now speaking into a microphone and pressing the side of his helmet with his hand to hear. With other, he kept his automatic weapon pointed directly at Samantha's center mass.

Samantha froze but continued to look around in confusion as she saw 10 or 12 other agents securing the area in front of the restaurant. A fear never experienced before in her life was starting to rise from this pit of her stomach. The noise of the helicopter was louder now as it lowered and hovered 30 feet off the ground in the middle of the 6-lane road. An open door behind the pilot revealed a sniper with a high-powered rifle aiming his weapon at Samantha.

Samantha felt a sudden calm come over her. A calm that comes through acceptance of death in those whose realize there was never any real way out but one. And her final thought was,

"...WTF!","

....as Samantha felt someone grab her arm and looked up to see Agent McDonald extending his other hand with his I.D. and badge towards the armed agent intent on screaming at her, " She's under the protection of the Department of Special Operations and Security." Another agent walked up and stood by the first and they both carefully examined the ID. Both read carefully McDonald's I.D., checked his face against the I.D. Both surrendered to that fact McDonald was a good guy, and now had their weapons aimed down. In unison, both nodded at McDonald.

Handing back the I.D. back, the commanding agent looked up at McDonald, "She's all yours. Good luck with that!" Then still talking to McDonald but looking at Samantha, with steel in his voice said. "Get her... out of here... now!"

Samantha was still stunned by the events of the last 10 minutes. McDonald gently pulled on her arm to get her to move. Samantha started with a stumble but followed along quickly across the street to the waiting car.

"Where are we going, Officer?"

McDonald was scanning the entire scene looking everywhere except at Samantha, "Miss Harrison we are taking you home to your Father and Mother."

Now next to the black 4 door sedan, William McDonald still had Samantha's right arm in his left hand and with the other reached for the right rear door handle. He looked down at her and in the calmest non-threatening voice as possible said, " Miss Harrison, I want you to listen very carefully to what I am about to say next. Can you do that for me?"